Be Careful What You Wish For
by ToxThexMoonxAndxBack
Summary: When Kate goes missing no one even knows where to begin looking. It is only when a man turns up claiming to be an old friend of Kate's do the team start getting somewhere, but who is this man they have never met before and can they trust him, for Kate's sake? Can the team find Kate in time? As the team find themselves in the cloak and dagger world secrets begin to unravel.
1. Chapter 1

AN: so I was asked on my tumblr for a story to explain Kate joining the CPS that was kind of AU and had something to do with British intelligence or something like that. So, here is a short introduction thing, don't know what to make of this one just yet, don't know where this is going. Please review xxx

XxX

Kate didn't know that when she left to get her and Jake coffee at lunch she wouldn't be coming back. She simply left the office saying she would be back soon, only she wasn't.

The day had started like any other. She and Jake going into work together, starting a new case now that Ronnie and Joe had found an accused. It was just like any other, only that wasn't going to continue for her.

She was walking back to the office, down a narrow street when she got the sudden feeling that someone was walking behind her. Her heart rate rose as the footsteps stopped at the same time as her own. She took a deep breath before turning around to look at them.

She felt her stomach lurch as her eyes met with those of her 'shadow'. She tensed as she was hit by a wave of different emotions; fear, rage, regret and relief. She did not know which one she was supposed to focus on the most. She wanted to speak but no word would leave her lips. Someone she had not seen for almost three years was now only 3 metres away from her. She couldn't say that she had missed them at all.

"Miss Katherine?" They spoke producing a gun. "I'm gonna need you to come with me."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because I know who your friends are here. I've been watching you, you and these new people you have surrounded yourself with. I suggest that if you care about them at all you step this way…" They made the gap between them smaller before knocking the two cups of coffee straight out of her hands onto the floor.

Kate swallowed. "How did you find me?"

"It wasn't easy, but that's a story for another time wouldn't you say." They leaned their face close to hers.

"What is it that you want?"

"You'll find out." They took a sudden hold of her arm. "Now come on…"

They were holding onto her arm tightly as they walked her towards their car before forcing her to sit in the passenger side.

"Do you really expect to be able to just take me? My friends will come looking…"

They smirked putting the key in the ignition. "But, Miss Katherine, you forget, I don't exist."

Kate sighed; bad things were about to go down.


	2. Chapter 2

An: thanks for reading, still not sure where I'm going with this yet, still planning some things. Hope this is okay. If there are any spelling mistakes it's because I'm writing this on my phone when I'm half asleep haha. So please review and thank you xxx

xxx

Jake looked over at Kate's empty desk before checking the time he realised she'd been gone a long time to say she was only going to get coffee. Even for Kate's ultra slow 'Monday morning' speed it was slow. He decided to call her but he was put straight to answer phone. Kate's phone was turned off. He wasn't sure what to make of that. It was probably nothing.

"You looked confused..." Ronnie said walking into the office with Joe following him. Jake looked from his phone to them.

"What's wrong?" Joe asked.

"It's just...Kate went out over 2 hours ago saying she was getting coffee and would be back soon. She's still not back and her phones off..."

"That's unlike Kate." Ron looked puzzled before turning to Joe. "She's almost as bad as you for always having her phone in her hand."

It was at that moment a young intern knocked on the door and entered nervously.

"Sorry to interrupt..." He said sheepishly. "It's just I was coming back into the building and I was taking the short cut round the back street and found Miss Barker's ID pass and thought she'd you know...need it..."

Jake looked at Kate's pass that the young man was holding. The last time he'd seen it was a few hours previously when Kate had been wearing it. It looked as though it had been in contact with wet gravel.

Ron took the neck chain tag from the intern to see the clip on the chain was undone. As though it had been pulled from Kate's neck. Ron knew that to do that it would need force. It wouldn't just fall off. "Was there anything else in that back street?" He asked trying to picture the street that led to both the CPS car park and the main building itself on one side and row of building on the other side, most of which were empty.

The intern thought a moment. "Yes erm. There were two take away coffee cups and the coffee was spilt all over the ground. It must be recent because I could still smell it...is everything okay?"

Ron looked at the picture on Kate's pass before looking at Joe. "Joe, call DI Chandler. Tell her we have reason to believe Crown Prosecutor Barker is missing."

Joe nodded and led the room to call Natalie.

"Try calling her again, Jake. See if her phone is back on." He turned to the intern. "What's your name, Son,"

"Jamie Smith..." He replied sounding more nervous than he did to start with.

"I want you to take me to the exact spot you found this."

Jamie nodded and Ron followed him out of the room leaving Jake alone.

Jake pressed the 'call' button next to Kate's contact number, not failing to see she was his most contacted person on his phone. The call again went straight through to answer phone again. He hung up and out his phone in his pocket. He was beginning to get more worried. What had happened to Kate? He began praying that Kate would be okay.

XxX

Brandon Applebee. He was part of David O'Riley's gang which had been wanted for murder, assault, armed robbery - the list would just go on. Only all the other gang members were in prison or dead. Apart from Brandon.

"Where are you taking me?" Kate asked as she starred aimlessly out of the window of the car. There was a pain in her side where he'd shoved her and she'd fallen into the side of the car. She still had the mixed feelings of fear and anger. She hated him, but she was scared in a way of what he might don. Because she had seen what he could. She hadn't wanted to go with him of cause but she knew just what he was capable of and knew there was no way he was joking about hurting people.

She looked down at herself, he'd tied her hands together with plastic ties which were cutting into her wrists already. He'd ripped her work ID pass from her neck and thrown it on the floor. Probably as a little message to her friend, should they find it, that she was missing. The only thing was of cause, they would have to try and find her. She knew Ronnie, Joe and Natalie were the best of the best but they would have to find out who had taken her and that wasn't going to be easy.

Any file with a mention of her kidnapper was burnt or locked away. The O'Riley cases went very high up, the gang had upset a lot of important people.

She lent her head against the car window and decide to change her question. "How did you find me?"

"It wasn't easy. Old Ryan hid you well..."

Kate said nothing. The mention of her old boss made her heart beat faster. Where was he going with this?

"You know, to say you worked for Amethyst you seem pretty bad at following orders..."

She looked at him questioningly. No one had spoke to her about Amethyst for 3 years. Since the day she had to leave.

"It's just I'm sure your boss, told you not to get too involved in this new life you've made for yourself. Only..." He reached into his inside pocket. "These don't look like not getting too involved to me."

He handed Kate the pictures and she held them best she could with her bound hands that were shaking under the confused emotions that plagued her mind. . There were picture of her and Jake, her and Ron and Joe. Brandon had been following her.

"What have you been doing, stalking me?" She looked over at him again. "What are you going to do?"

"You'll find out..."

Kate sighed. What did Applebee want? Did he want revenge on her? If so why not just kill her when he found her? Why have to stalk her. She could only give the impression she wasn't scared of him for so long.


	3. Chapter 3

An; Thanks for reading as always, please review, it really cheers me up and after the week I've had (tumblr followers know) I need it haha. I hope you're enjoying this so far xxx Thanks to HMbookqueen and UnlawfulDisorder for reviewing so far. And to my friends Sophie, Brittany and Elise, it's been one of those weeks I'm afraid. xxxx

XxX

Ron looked around the street where Jamie had found Kate's badge. He had been right about the coffee. So Kate must have been on her way back up to the office. So why had she never got there? What had stopped her? Had something scared her and she had dropped the coffee on the floor? Or had someone scared her? He looked around for anything that might be of any help. That when he saw a CCTV camera, he made a note of it and would tell Angie and Joe to try and see if they could get any footage from it. Maye it would show what happened to Kate?

XxX

"We're here…" Brandon said in a gruff tone looking at Kate as he took the keys from the ignition.

"Where's here?" She asked looking out of the window wondering what it was he was going to do.

"Maintenance tunnels from the ClearWater Account Company to all over the city, goes right under the river, you know? We used to be based here, planning jobs and that…it's abandoned, no one uses it. Perfect place because…"

"Amethyst never found out where you operated from." Kate sighed finishing the sentence for him.

"Exactly…" He got out of the car and walked around the side to open her door. He helped her out with one hand and in the other he held his gun, he kept the barrel against her side, just in case she tried something.

"You knew how to get into all those places you robbed by using the tunnels. Is this where you went and hid when it all went into melt down for you?"

"It wasn't a exactly fun times for you either if I remember. Bronson was our explosives expert. What was it? C4 that he used to blow the floor? I was better with a gun, never really involved in that part of the operation"

Kate shuddered at the memory. It had been over three years and she could still hear the sound of the explosion, she could still feel herself being flung back by the force of it and the heat of the flames that came after.

"Amethyst really let you down there didn't they?" He chuckled as he walked her towards a wooden door in the side of ClearWater's building marked 'maintenance' but didn't look as though it was used a lot. It had a rusted padlock keeping it locked and Brandon took the key from his pocket. "You would have done better without them."

"No I wouldn't…"

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow unlocking the door. "How did you come to be part of it again?"

Kate bit her lip, she wasn't liking the idle chit chat, and she just wanted to know what Brandon Applebee thought he was playing at. He was the kind of person who didn't think twice about pulling a trigger so why, after three years of searching for the people who put the rest of his gang behind bars, was he stood taking to one of them as though they were at some kind of school reunion?

"I was clever…" Kate spoke cautiously. "I was young and I was clever and I didn't have any family. That's what Ryan was looking for, that's why I was chosen…"

Brandon watched her closely before giving her a nudge to get her to go through the door. "Mind the steps." He mumbled as they entered. "We're going to the bottom..."

XxX

"We've got the footage." Joe said and Ron, Natalie and Jake all turned to look at his computer screen.

They watched as Kate was walking down the street when she suddenly stopped and turned. A figure came onto the screen, clearly a man but he never showed his face.

"He must've known the camera was there…" Ron sighed.

They carried on watching as the man walked closer to Kate, how he hit the coffee from her hands, how he pulled out a gun.

"Joe, see if you can get someone to lip read what Kate is saying, the footage doesn't look too far away." Natalie said and Joe nodded as Kate and the mystery figure left view of the camera. "Ron, I want you to go to Kate's place see if there's something that could tell us who this guy is. See if she's upset anyone or if someone has sent any threats. Jake, can you think of anything?"

Jake shook his head. "We've had pretty straight forward trials recently, not much by way of cases. All have pleaded guilty and gone straight to sentencing."

Natalie thought a moment. "What about in her personal life? Anyone there? Exs?" She knew the two lawyers were something of an item but had never heard Kate speak about anyone she had seen previously.

"Not that I know of." His mind flashed back to Kate's face on the CCTV footage, she'd looked scared, but she also looked angry. He had never seen her like that before. He'd seen her scared; when Mark Glendon's son was killing of anyone to do with the prosecution on his retrial. He'd seen her angry. But he'd never seen her like that.

"You're sure she wasn't being threatened or anything?"

"Well if she was, she sure as hell didn't tell me." He snapped then ran his hand over his face as Joe, Ron and Natalie looked at him concerned. "Sorry. No…I don't think she was."

"Okay…" She nodded. "Go with Ron, you'll probably be more of help than a normal PC…"

With that he and Ron left.

"We will find her Jake." Ron said reassuringly as they walked towards the car.

Jake sighed, he just wanted to know what the hell was going on. "I'm sure we will. It's just…I'm worried. I can't think of anyone who might want to hurt her. And you saw that tape, he knew the cameras were there, he knew how to avoid them…"

"Meaning he'd been there before and the whole thing was well planned…I know…"


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Thanks for reading as always, please review xxxx

XxX

Joe looked at his computer screen, the press were already all over Kate's disappearance; she'd only been gone six hours. News obviously travelled fast, the whole of MIU and the CPS were the first to know but people talk. Joe scrolled down the page. _'Katherine Barker (28) is said to have gone missing on her way back into work, police have confirmed they're treating her disappearance suspicious. Miss Barker is a prosecutor for the CPS and is 5ft2, blonde, Caucasian and of a slim build.'_ There was a photo of Kate stood beside Jake and Henry, from when Henry gave a speech after one of their cases.

"Joe Hawkins?" A voice said behind him and Joe got to his feet. "I'm Andrew Fawkes, the lip reader…"

"Yeah…" Joe nodded before taking Andrew to another room to show him the tape. Joe hoped he'd be able to find something. Kate was a good friend of his, of all of theirs.

XxX

Jake unlocked the door to Kate's house and he and Ronnie entered. Both of them wearing gloves just in case someone had been there before them, Jake knew his prints would be there already though. He looked around the hall, Kate's house was mostly light colours; she had said it made it look happier. In her hall there were several Polaroid photos of her and friends on the wall; Jake, Ron, Joe and the others.

"The place doesn't look any different from normal…" Jake sighed as they walked through to the living room and Ron saw Kate's 'library' for the first time.

"Big reader is our Kate?" He chuckled looking at some of the books she had.

Jake nodded. "Yeah, said it was her way of coping when she was younger. What with her family life being so all over the place…."

"Her sister being kicked out?"

Jake nodded again. "Her Dad went into a rehabilitation centre when Kate was 16 to deal with his drinking after he and her mum got a divorce. Her mum wasn't exactly mentally stable either. She went to go and live with family in Scotland. Kate was handed over to social services…not sure if she's heard from either ever since…"

Ron sighed, trying to piece together Kate's past. How did she ever turn into the funny bubbly young woman they knew and loved? His phone buzzed in his pocket. "It's Joe. We now know what Kate's saying on the tape."

XxX

Brandon kept the gun pointing towards Kate as they walked down flight after flight of stairs. Kate didn't try and make conversation, she was still trying to process her current situation. Brandon wanted to kill her, right? So why was she still alive? She swallowed maybe she shouldn't be asking that, maybe she should just be glad that she was. She kept thinking about what he'd said "I'm sure your boss had told you not to get involved…" She had been told not to get involved, but at the time she hadn't known how long she would be hiding. She thought it would only be a few months and she'd be back with Amethyst quickly. Only it had been three years and in that time she had found friends, someone she loved, and someone who loved her. For the first time in her life she felt normal, she wasn't worried what would happen to her the next day. If she would be coming home or not. She had decided she would wait for Amethyst to get in touch then she would resign and her friends would never need to know about it. Only of cause that wasn't going to happen. Not now.

Reaching the bottom steps they found themselves in a damp corridor.

"I'd have thought O'Riley would have wanted something a bit nicer than this place to plan his crimes with his gang…" Kate said and Brandon chuckled slightly.

"Nobody caught us here did they? Meaning no one has any way of linking us with this place…"

"So no one is going to find me…" Kate bit her lip as he led her through a door into a small room. The room was dark, even after he'd turned on the light. It too was damp. There was a table, a chair and a radiator. There was an old cork board on one wall that still had pieces of paper pinned to it.

"You're good at this. I can see why Ryan chose you. Pretty young blonde girl who also had brains enough to do some damage. Did he brainwash you to join? Tell you that you'd be making a difference?"

"We saved a lot of people with what we did, from what we found out. And he didn't brainwash me. I knew what I was getting myself in for, but I didn't have anything else…"

"You saved a lot of people, but couldn't save your own…"

"Shut up."

"How long do you think it will take for your old pals to find out? How long before they all come out of hiding?"

Kate closed her eyes. "You want to draw them all out, using me…"

"You were the youngest, if they want to protect anyone, it will be you…" He reach out and touched Kate's cheek and she jerked her head away. "I'm not gonna kill you, Miss Katherine. We may not have been slow to hurt anyone before but no women or children were ever harmed by us. We have some decorum. We all got family somewhere. It's not you I'm after…"

Kate tensed, somehow that only made her feel worse.

XxX

"It's a bit tricky as we've only got half a conversation…" Joe said as he, Ron, Natalie and Jake gathered in Natalie's office.

"Just tell us what Kate says." Ron spoke sternly trying to hurry the younger detective on a bit.

"Erm well she doesn't say much before they go out of shot but she says… 'Why would I do that? How did you find me? What is it that you want?' and that's about it…"

"How did you find me?" Ron repeated puzzled. "So Kate knows the person in the video, the person who's taken her. And she's what? Been hiding from them?"

Jake ran his hand over his face. "Why would she be hiding from someone? Why would she not have told us? Doesn't she trust us?"

"Jake, calm down…" Natalie said putting a hand on the younger man's arm.

"Natalie, we are no closer to finding out where Kate is…"

"Maybe I could help you there." A thick Irish accent made the four of them turn around to see a man stood at the entrance to Natalie's office. "Ryan Doyle, Amethyst."


	5. Chapter 5

AN; Thanks for reading as always, please review it means a lot xxx

XxX

"So tell me everything to do with Kate's disappearance…" Ryan Doyle said moving into the office. Ronnie looked the man up and down, he was probably somewhere in his mid-forties. He stood up straight with broad shoulders which made him look taller than he probably was. He had dark circles around his eyes and looked as though he hadn't had a full night's sleep in a long time.

"I'm sorry, excuse me." Natalie raised her hand. "We don't know who you are. We're not letting you worm your way in on our investigation no matter where you're from. Kate Barker is our friend…"

"DI…Chandler is it? With all due respect ma'am she is my friend too. She's also one of my team. I've already failed to protect her once and right now I'm doing it again. If you care about her you'll let me help."

"What do you mean, Kate's one of your team?" Ron asked confused.

The man sighed running a hand over his tired face. "You work for Major Incident unit right? Amethyst is like Special Crimes Unit, we handle cases that go pretty high up. Kate's one of my team. Or at least she was up until three years ago when she had to go into hiding…"

The three detectives and one lawyer continued to gaze at him, they couldn't believe what he was telling them.

"She had a law degree so we got her a place as a lawyer, had her do some defence to give her a background story then had her moved to prosecuting. She said if she had to help anymore scum get back on the streets it wasn't worth it." Ryan explained. "Look, I understand that this is all new to you guys, Kate is good at keeping things to herself and she never told you because she was ordered not to. Don't feel like you've been deceived in anyway. The Kate you know, she's the same person, she's just got a different story." He paused to look at them. "I know who has taken her, I need you to let me help."

Natalie thought for a moment before nodding. "Kate was taken by a man, unknown, at 1:24pm. After that our trail goes cold. We don't know who he is or why he would want to take Kate..."

"Your man in question is Brandon Applebee, the only remaining member of The O'Riley gang to not either be in prison or dead." He took his phone out of his pocket to show them a photo of the man they were looking for. "3 years ago Amethyst were working towards arresting the whole gang. We got the leader and two other members. Applebee and their explosives expert, Bronson, were doing a job at a big time banking company. I sent Kate and Scott Monroe another officer of mine, decent bloke with some back up. Anyway, so they go in to make the arrest, Scott leading because he was the most senior office, only what they don't know is that the corridor that leads to the vault has been set with a motion trigger that's sets of a bomb. Scott crossed the line, heard the bomb arm, and had just enough time to move back when the bomb went off. Scott was knocked unconscious straightaway. Kate just had the strength to make the officer down call…" He paused and a look of regret swept across his face.

"And then what?" Joe asked.

"Applebee and Bronson just seemed to vanish. We had three members of the gang in custody and those two were just gone. Scott and Kate were in hospital. Kate was let out after a week or so, mild concussion nothing major, not physically anyway. Scott is still in a coma. There's still brain activity but he's not woken up or spoken in three years…" He closed his eyes for a moment before looking back at them all. "I realised that Applebee and Bronson probably wouldn't be happy with us putting their mates behind bars so I had to do what I thought was necessary and that was protect Kate. So I had her come here, and that's why she's been with you guys…We found Bronson dead about a year ago. Applebee though, we never caught him."

"So this Brandon Applebee, he's the one that's got Kate?" Jake said, he'd stayed quiet up until now wanting to know exactly what his girlfriend was facing, what she'd faced in the past. He had been replaying the last conversation he'd had with Kate over and over in his mind. It had just been their usual back and forth banter and he hoped to god it wouldn't be the last of it.

Ryan nodded. "I don't know what he's going to do to her, he was one of the heavy lads in the O'Riley gang. This isn't your everyday kidnapping, no contact has been made from them yet, I doubt money would be a motive…"

"Do you think he would kill her?" Jake looked him in the eye and Ryan saw that he needed answers.

"I honestly don't know. I just know that I don't want to let her down again. I shouldn't have sent her and Monroe into that building. Monroe was like a brother to her. She didn't have any family, main reason I thought of her for the job but her and Monroe looked out for each other. She could've got up and ran when that bomb went off, she was strong enough to do that. But she stayed right by Monroe's side so he wasn't alone, even though it nearly killed her. If that's not family I don't know what is. She's a brave girl, I just hope she'll stay brave long enough for us to find her…"

"Do you think he just wants to eliminate those who put away his gang?"

Ryan shrugged. "If I'm being honest son your guess is as good as mine. He could've killed Kate the moment he saw her, but he didn't, I want to know why."

"Right…" Natalie took a deep breath. "What's our first step?"

There was a knock at the office door and Angie entered holding a brown padded envelope. "Guv' a Courier just dropped this off, it's addressed to the friends of Kate Barker…"

"Thanks Angie…" Natalie took the envelope and opened it. Inside was a single sheet of paper. "It's a note…"

"What's it say?" Ryan asked moving closer to me able to see it.

"Dear who ever this may concern, Katherine is safe, be sure of that, don't give me any reason to harm her. When a man named Ryan Doyle approaches you ask him to call the number below." She read out loud before handing Ryan the piece of paper. "I think he wants to talk to you."

XxX

Kate shivered, Brandon had untied her hands and told her to sit down but she wasn't sure if it had only made her feel worse. She was still worried about her own life but now even more so for those of her friends. Her old team, Ryan, Ziggy, Lorna and Scott. Her new friends Ron, Joe, Natalie…Jake. She had met so many people who she loved and would do anything for, maybe that would be her downfall? She cared too much and ended up getting hurt. That had always been her problem.

She watched Brandon as he paced around the small room, he would walk a width of the dark room, then a length before stopping at the old cork board. He would stop there a minute, read something then walk back towards her. He had a phone in his hand, was he waiting for someone to call? Kate thought about how he'd taken her own phone from her turned it off. No one would be able to track it or find out where she was with that.

She closed her eyes, she was freezing, the underground tunnels obviously weren't going to be the warmest of places in the world. She kept thinking about Jake. She suddenly felt so guilty about not telling him all about Amethyst but she'd already disobeyed one order by getting involved with him. She couldn't break anymore and put people in danger. She loved him, she hadn't wanted anything to jeopardise that.

"You're all over the news Miss Katherine…" Brandon said standing in front of her turning the phone screen round for her to see before looking at it himself again.

"Oh call me Kate…" She muttered under her breath annoyed.

"What's it say, let's have a look." He began reading off the details the police had given the press. "They've not given them much have they? Well, that was a few hours ago now, maybe they've… found out more by now." Suddenly the phone started ringing, the song 'Never Gonna Give You Up' By Rick Astley started playing and Kate looked at him gone out.

"That's you're ring tone?" She asked.

"I find it cheers me up before having to talk to other human beings."

She raised her hands as if to say 'fair enough' as he answered the phone.

"Ryan Doyle." He said with a smirk which made Kate's skin crawl. "Lovely to hear from you."


	6. Chapter 6

AN: As always thanks for reading, please review, it gives me the motivation to update haha xxx

XxX

 _"_ _Ryan Doyle, how lovely to hear from you…"_ Brandon said and Ryan rolled his eyes. Ron was holding the phone and it was on speaker so they could all hear both sides of the conversation.

"Brandon Applebee, you'll understand when I say I don't share the same joy…"

"Now is that anyway to speak to an old friend?"

"You're not my friend Brandon, now tell me what you've done with Kate."

"Kate?" There was a pause. "She's fine, and if I get what I want then she will still be fine when all this is over."

Ryan sighed, what was this guy up to? "What do you want?"

"All in good time of cause, I'm enjoying hearing that panicked tone of yours after not hearing it since that day when precious Kate hear and her partner ended up in the hospital." There was a slight chuckle. "Tell me, Ryan, how did it feel knowing it was your fault? Knowing that it was because you'd sent those two into that building and that their lives were hanging the balance because of your call? Tell me, how did that feel?"

"Shut up." Ryan snapped. "Where's Kate?"

"She's right here." They heard him move handing the phone to Kate. "Miss Katherine, he wants to talk to you."

"Ryan?" Hearing Kate's voice they all took a deep breath, Kate was still alive.

"Hey half-bite how you doing?" Ryan asked and Kate scoffed.

"Oh just swell…"

"You hurt?"

"No?" Kate swallowed and there was a moment of silence. "I'm fine…"

"You now know she's alive…" Brandon said taking charge over the phone again. "Now the first thing that I want to happen is this, I want David O'Riley, Seamus Carlter and Paul Greenwood, to be released from prison."

Ryan laughed. "Are you kidding? Why the heck would I do that? They've got a list of offences between them that's longer than War and Peace."

"You have twenty four hours for them to be released."

"This is what you've taken Kate for, to get your little crew out of prison?"

"There are other reasons. You have 24 hours, use the time wisely. Just remember how it felt to let Kate down the first time?" Brandon grunted before hanging up the phone.

Ryan cursed before running a hand over his face. "He actually wants us to release the rest of his gang?"

"And he's using Kate to get you to do that?" Ron looked at him confused.

"He knows me and the rest of Amethyst would do anything for Kate, she was the youngest member when the team were first put together. He also knows that's I have the power to get his pals released…"

"So what now?" Jake asked.

"We keep trying to find Kate, there's no way I'm letting the O'Riley gang back on to the street."

Jake sighed before leaving the room, Ronnie could tell he was upset and angry and who wouldn't be? His girlfriend was being held captive by some crazy guy, if they didn't release even more nut jobs from prison then the guy was going to kill her?

Jake clenched his fist as he walked along the empty corridor, he didn't care about Amethyst he didn't care about any of that. All he cared about was Kate and bringing her back safe. He loved her and if this didn't end well, if the others didn't work out where she was in time, he wasn't sure what he would do without her.

"Jake…" Ron said catching up with him. "You alright?"

Jake stopped in his tracks. "No not really, would you believe?"

"Jake, we all know you're worried okay? We know how much you love Kate but you need to calm down, you worrying isn't going to help us find her…"

"I know…" He sighed. "It's just with her being kidnapped and then this Doyle bloke turning up out of nowhere it's a lot to take in. The entire time we've known her Ron and she's been hiding from Applebee and know he's just taken her and we don't know where she is or what he might do to her."

"Kate's brave, obviously a lot more than we thought, she'll be fine, god willing. We're gonna bring her back."

"You can't know that."

"It's a hope Jake, now come on, let's see what Doyle wants us to do next."

XxX

"They're never going to do it you know?" Kate said as Brandon stood looking at the old cork board again. "They're never going to let the others out…"

"They will, they're scared of what I'd do to you."

"But you don't want to kill me…" Kate paused. "So what's your plan? If you and the others never harmed women or children intentionally what do you plan to do if they don't let the others out? Go against your friends and kill me anyway? Or have you got some kind of other plan going?"

"You talk too much, Miss Katherine…." Brandon said not taking his eyes off the board.

Kate sighed, she wasn't going to get anything out of him. They wouldn't let the gang out would they? Not for her? They wouldn't risk other people lives letting killers back on the street just because of her? She didn't know, she didn't know what they were thinking.

Would Applebee really kill her?

At that moment anything seemed possible, there were so many ways that situation could've ended but not one of them seemed to be good outcomes.

Kate wished she was at home, she didn't know what the time was it guessed it was late at night some time. Normally her and Jake would be at home by that point, they'd probably be watching a film pretending to also be doing some work.

Kate shivered, she was starting to feel weird, it was cold in the room but the air was thick, smelt of damp and made every other breath a challenge. How did the gang ever get any work done? Or was this struggle just to do with the damage to her lungs that all that smoke had done when the bomb had gone off three years ago? That was a more likely possibility.

She didn't know what they all planned to do, or what would happen next, she just hoped it happened soon. She was finding herself become more afraid as time was going on. She hadn't been properly afraid in a long time, other that the occasional nightmare that came back to haunt her.

She could sense her friends would have to make a very tough decision soon.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: thanks for reading and please review they always make me smile, sorry not much happens in this chapter but I'm buried in revision at the moment as I have a maths mock exam tomorrow.

XxX

Jake stood alone outside the police station, he needed some time to think, some air. Everything was happening at once. He knew that Ron and Joe would try and get him to go home soon and they were probably right. He doubted however that if he went home he would get any sleep at all. He stood scrolling through old texts from Kate. It was pure irony really; he was worried and angry and the only person who could even calm him down was Kate.

"You okay?" Jake looked up putting his phone away as Ryan walked towards him. "It's Jake isn't it? Kate's boyfriend?"

Jake nodded.

"You better be taking care of her…" He paused leaning his back against the side of the building, only the streetlamp lighting his face. "She's been like a daughter to me…"

"How long have you known her?" Jake asked, mirroring Ryan's position leaning against the wall.

"About twelve years, she was just a kid when I first met her though…"

"Was that after her Dad handed her over to social services?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah. I'd just been asked to find a team, for Amethyst. I had a few ideas who I wanted, I also wanted someone young though, someone who was quick. Someone who would actually benefit from the group. So I stared looking at exam results and I came across Kate's. She was this young girl who had grown up in a place that I can only describe as some kind of nightmare, she had these outstanding marks…but I knew if she stayed where she was she wouldn't get any kind opportunity to do anything with her intelligence. So I offered her a choice and do you know what she said?"

"What?"

"She said yes, straight away and I can still hear her reply in my head clear as die. Because she said _'I am so tired, all I want to do is give up but I can't because others are depending on me to be strong. You're giving me a chance, I'd be a fool to turn away from it'_ she studied for a law degree as well as being taught all about investigating and profiling. By the time she was 19, she had started as an operative for Amethyst…" He closed his eyes a moment. "She worked out a lot of cases way before the other who were way more experienced than she was…she saved a lot of people…she was the youngest out of us, so I always nicknamed her half-bite…"

"Do you feel guilty? About Kate and her partner and that bomb that went off?"

"Kate would tell me it wasn't my fault but of cause, I feel responsible. I should've made sure that the building was safe before I sent them in…I still remember seeing the ambulance take them away to the hospital. Me and the rest of our team, Lorna and Ziggy, had just arrived. Kate and Scott were both unconscious…for a while they didn't have much hope of either of them waking up. When Kate came round and remembered about Scott she was distraught. You have to understand, Kate never knew what it was like to be in a family, we were the first people to make her feel like she actually belonged somewhere…"

Jake looked at the ground, there was so much he was learning about his girlfriend, and the nagging thought at the back of his mind was that he might never actually get to see her again.

"Can I ask you something Jake?"

"Of cause…"

"Is Kate happy here?"

Jake thought a second. "I think she is, yeah…"

"I thought so…" he took a deep breath. "Anyway, you should be going home, we'll be fine here, we'll tell you if we have any news."

Jake gave in. "Fine…"

He then walked off towards his car, realising he was going home without Kate.

XxX

Kate coughed waking herself up. She must've fallen asleep, her head against the table. For a moment she thought she was at home or in the office, but then it all came flooding back and she remembered that that wasn't the case. A fleeting sense of panic ran through her as she suddenly realised he'd tied her hands together again.

"What's up with you?" Brandon asked and Kate rubbed her neck where it was starting to go stiff. He was stood watching her, the gun still in his hands.

"Why am I tied up again?"

"Because I don't trust you." He replied. "I don't trust your friend's either. I'll be checking in on them later, gonna make sure they're doing what they're told…"

"And how do you plan to make sure they do what you say?"

"Because we're gonna meet them, and once they see you, they'll start to listen."

"You're gonna make them afraid so they'll listen to you…" Kate sighed closing her eyes feeling a lump form in her throat knowing the choice her friends would have to make. "I hope they chose to keep the rest of your gang in prison, at least then, if you do kill me, my death won't be for nothing…"

"So you'd rather your life wasted like Scott Monroe's?"

"Don't you dare talk about him."

"You wanna watch your mouth."

Kate didn't say anything else, she didn't have the strength to argue with him, she simply out her head back down on the table and went back to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

"Lorna. Ziggy." Ryan called across the room to a man and a woman who had just entered. Joe studied the two of them. Lorna was a woman in her mid-thirties, she was dark skinned and had long dark red hair that she had tied back in a ponytail. Ziggy was around the same age as her. He looked very strong and had pale skin and short sandy blond hair.

"The rest of Amethyst." Ryan said turning to Ron and Joe. "Lorna Briggs, one of the finest sketch artists you'll come across. Alfie 'Ziggy' Ederson, best teach guy you'll meet. Both of them, very good officers."

"Cut it, Ryan." Ziggy groaned. "Where's half-bite?"

"Yeah." Lorna interrupted. "You told she was going to be safe here?"

"I know. I know. I'm just as angry as you guys." Ryan sighed rubbing the back of his neck. "Applebee says to ensure Kate's safe return we have to release O'Riley and the rest of the gang from prison."

Lorna and Ziggy looked at each other with similar expressions of confusion and annoyance.

"What do we do?" They asked pretty much in unison.

"I don't want to let Kate down again." Ryan answered. Ron could see that he cared about Kate a lot, and that he wanted to find Kate as much as they all did.

"That accident wasn't your fault, Ryan." Lorna sighed putting her hand on her boss' arm. "Kate doesn't blame you for and if Scott…ever wakes up…he won't blame you either."

"I know that…but Kate is like a daughter to and Scott…he had a family…"

"We will bring Kate back alive, we're not going to let Appplebee kill her." Ziggy said. "She's pretty much our little sister, Applebee is gonna get his arse kicked when we find him."

"Well that makes like seven of us." Joe said getting to his feet.

Lorna looked at him and Ron. "Little half-bite made a life for herself here didn't she?"

"She's got a boyfriend and everything." Ryan chuckled under his breath.

Lorna smiled. "Someone that isn't a nutter or something to do with the government, wow, I'm so proud."

Ryan rubbed his neck again "Do you guys remember anything from the O'Riley case about anywhere they used to work?"

They shook their heads. "We never worked out where they operated from."

"We never even got close?"

"We narrowed it down to a closed area from the hospital to an accounting company…called ClearWater or something…"

Ryan looked at one of the maps that Ron had on his desk. "Where are you Kate?"

XxX

Kate woke up, her neck aching with stiffness. She opened her eyes and surveyed her surroundings. It almost made her feel sick to see she was still in the room Applebee was holding her in. She remembered going to sleep in the chair, he must've moved her to an old sofa in the corner of the room. She didn't understand him, one moment he was telling her he wouldn't hurt her, next he was threatening to kill her then he was moving her from a hard chair to the slightly more comfortable sofa She sighed heavily, she felt dreadful. Her head was pounding and the dust and damp was getting to her lungs. She coughed pushing herself into a sitting positon, this was not the time to start getting ill.

She looked to the door, there was a slither of light coming in from underneath it, she'd been in the dark for a long time now, and her eyes had adjusted to it. There was only one light in the room she was in and there was no bulb in it. She wondered if this was really where Applebee had been for the past three years, she wondered just how far the tunnels went.

She thought back to when she was with Amethyst and they were trying to find where the O'Riley gang was based. They had it narrowed down, but only into a small section from the hospital to the ClearWater accounting company. The same hospital where Scott Monroe still fought for his life, where he clung onto it not ready to go. If only there was some way of telling her old gang they were so close to finding her.

She slowly got to her feet, her increased headache making her feel dizzy. Slowly she walked to the cork board that Brandon had become so fixated on the day before, she'd been at the other side of the room so hadn't been able to see what was on it. There were newspaper clipping all over it, photographs too. There was a photograph of her and underneath there was what seemed to be some kind of profile.

 _'Katherine Barker, born 19thDecember 1986, youngest of two children. Lived in the family home till June 2001. Put into care by alcoholic father. Next appearance on records. May 14th2012 lead defence barrister on Holland trial.'_

Kate smirked, of cause there was no records of her from being approached by Ryan Doyle to her becoming a defence barrister. She carried on reading.

 _'Friends; Ronald 'Ronnie' Brooks, DS, recovering alcoholic. Joe Hawkins, DS, grew up in care. Natalie Chandler, DI, little family. Jacob 'Jake Thorne', Kate's boyfriend, weakness unknown.'_

Kate put her hands to her mouth, not only had Brandon been stalking her, he'd also been finding everything he could out about her friends. The only people who cared about not just because she had grown up around them. The people who loved her and had welcomed her in a time where she thought she was alone. She felt anger raging through her blood, he'd been trying to find their weaknesses. She noted that he hadn't found one for Jake yet. She herself couldn't think of any either. Jake was one of the strongest, bravest men she knew, but he was also stoic, she remembered how when they'd first met he'd dismiss any emotion he felt the moment it present itself.

She saw a newspaper clipping about the two of them and a trial they had won. The journalist called them a 'great team' and said that they 'played off each other in court to secure a sound conviction and get justice for the victim's family'. They did work well together, they always had. Even if they hadn't wanted to admit it to start with. But after long nights of going over case notes and drinking coffee till the sun came up somewhere along the line she'd fallen for the person she never thought she would.

She rested her bound hands on the board to support herself as she felt tears prick her eyes. Brandon knew her as a government officer, someone who was tough and would keep fighting until there was no fight left in them. However he wasn't there, and she'd spent the last three years being someone who wasn't afraid of letting their heart rule their head. She took a deep breath to stop herself from breaking down completely in uncontrollable sobs. She didn't know what to do. She was scared of what Brandon might do, he was becoming so unpredictable. She was scared for her friend because she knew if she had never hidden from Brandon amongst them, they wouldn't be in danger. All she wanted was for it all to be over.

"Miss Katherine." His stern voice made her jump. "What are you doing?"

"You've been stalking my friends too?"

He didn't answer. "I've spoken to Doyle again, we're going to meet him in an hour. He tries to pull anything…someone will die…"

She swallowed. "They won't release the others, they just won't it doesn't work like that."

Again he didn't answer her. "We leave in ten minutes."

XxX

AN: Sorry that took so long to update, hectic life at the moment and the only thing keeping me sane is reading fics, well rereading because there isn't many but I'm done with mocks now apart from RE but I'm fine with that so hopefully I should be quicker updating. thanks for reading as always, I can't believe I've done eight chapters and not given up, I'm actually liking one. I hope you're enjoying reading it to. xxx please review, it makes my day.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Thanks for reading as always guys, please review. I wrote this up in a notebook during my ICT lesson seeing as I didn't have any work to do, it was this or tumblr so I chose this and it took up ten pages of my note book haha. love you xx

XxX

"How's this going to work?" Ron asked as he, Ryan and Jake got into Ryan's car. Applebee had called wanting them to meet with him. They hoped he hadn't changed his mind about how long he'd given them to get the O'Riley gang out of prison because they still had 11 hours or so left on the 24 hours he'd given them. Lorna, Ziggy, Joe and Natalie were staying behind at MIU, all still trying to find Kate without having to resort to letting killers back onto the streets.

The media were still all over Kate's kidnapping and that meant people were calling in with possible sightings, none of which were actually of Kate, or with requests that the police check out other missing person cases. The four of them had stayed behind to keep things under control and hope that one lead might be true.

"First of all…" Ryan started putting the keys in the ignition. "We don't try anything, if Kate is with him, we can't do anything that might risk her safety."

"What do we tell him about his gang in prison?" Jake said, no one even tried to stop him going with them.

"We say we're still working on it and pray he's not changed the deadline."

Jake ran his hand over his face as they set off. What if Kate was hurt? What if Applebee had already killed her? Ryan had told them how unpredictable Applebee was, how he acted on impulses rather than actually thinking about what he might be doing. All he wanted was Kate back safe.

XxX

"They better not be late." Brandon said leading Kate up the steps out of the tunnels. Kate rolled her eyes trying to ignore her hunger pangs and the dryness of her mouth. She hadn't eaten or drank anything since lunch time the day before and the effects of low blood sugar were starting to show.

As the door that lead outside opened Kate felt the air hit her and it made her cough and splutter. Applebee hit her back a few times before producing a hipflask from her pocket. "Take a swig of this." He held it up for her to drink as her hands were still tied together. She cautiously took a sip, not sure what he was giving her.

"It's water." She said as he put his hipflask away.

"Yeah, doctors say I need to cut back." He smirked opening his car door for her. She sighed before carefully getting into the passenger side, she really didn't understand Brandon Applebee at all.

He didn't talk to her the whole journey apart from to tell her to look down so no one saw her face.

Kate nearly choked when she saw the place that he'd chosen to meet with the others. The bank where her and Scott had been injured when the bomb had gone off. The building was falling part and was empty. The damage the bomb had caused was too much for someone to repair so the building was just left and the bank relocated.

He opened the car door, got hold of her arm and took out of his gun. "You just do what you're told and you and you're friends are going to be fine."

He kept a tight grip on her arm as they entered the building. It all brought back memories for Kate, from the day her and Scott had entered thinking they were just going to make an arrest. They had no idea what was going to happen. She closed her eyes for a moment when she remembered the heat of the flames as they surrounded her. She took a deep breath, she had no idea how this was going to play out.

They stood and waited. She saw the door open and saw Ryan enter, followed by Ron and…Jake.

Brandon pushed her and she fell forward on her knees and he pointed the gun at the back of her head. "Ryan Doyle, nice of you to join us." Ryan chuckled. "Now tell me, is O'Riley and others out of prison?"

"Not yet." Ryan said calmly. "We're working on, there's a lot of people to talk to and not everyone really wants to let them out. Why did you want to meet with us?"

"So you could see the woman you think of as your daughter…the woman who since she was sixteen you've done nothing but let down…"

Jake wasn't even looking at Applebee and Ryan, he was looking at Kate. She looked so much paler than normal and her movement were very slow. She was ill, he could tell. She looked dehydrated. She was shivering, he couldn't tell if it was because she was scared or not. He saw her lift her head, her gaze meeting his. He watched as she slowly mouthed 'I love you' to him. He gave her a small reassuring smile before mouthing the same three words back.

"You don't have long left." Brandon said. "I suggest you move faster – or Kate may have an unfortunate ending."

"Don't do it Ryan." Kate said looking her old boss in the eye, everyone looked at her, wondering what she was going to say. "Too many people have died because of them, don't let their death be for nothing, not because of me."

"I'm not going to let him kill you, Katherine." Ryan raised his voice slightly, for the first time calling Kate by her full name.

"Don't do this for me, Ryan. I'm not important."

Brandon shoved her again and she fell forward hitting her head. He took hold of her are getting her to her feet. "I suggest you shut up now…" He hissed.

"If you can't do that for me Ryan...I need you to do something else." Kate said her eyes fixed on Ryan, she looked as though she had some kind of idea.

"What?"

"Visit Scott for me, talk to him. Tell him what's outside his window. His room is high up, he'd like to know about the city below him."

"But he's in a coma…"

"Enough." Brandon cut in. "Wait ten minutes before leaving, you follow us and I'll know. You have ten hours left."

Then they were gone. Jake didn't even know what to say. He'd watched that man hurt his girlfriend and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Why would she want you to visit Scott?" Ron asked. "What did she mean? She didn't make a lot of sense."

Ryan thought a moment. "She wants us to look out of the window of his hospital room…only…"

"Only what?"

"His room in on the first floor…below him…there isn't really anything…I don't get what she means…"

"She's trying to tell us something." Ron sighed. "She seems to think we'll figure it out. We need to do what she's said, Applebee doesn't look the calmest of blokes…"

"Ron…" Jake started.

"I know." Ron nodded at the younger man. "Kate's ill, I saw it too."


	10. Chapter 10

AN: I can't believe this is chapter ten of this, I honestly didn't think it would be this long, and there's still more to come...I hope you're actually enjoying this. Thanks for reading as always, please review xx

XxX

"What happened?" Natalie asked Ron as he, Ryan and Jake entered MIU. She could tell by the look on his face something was wrong.

"We saw Kate…and she looks ill."

"How do you mean?" Lorna said, the conversation she'd been having with Joe now out of her mind.

"She looked really pale, dehydrated, she was coughing…it was as though she was struggling to focus at certain points." Ron told her. "She's also got a cut on her head, Applebee pushed her and she fell."

"Ziggy…" Lorna turned to her co-worked. "When Kate was discharged from hospital after the bomb, what did the doctor say about any after effects?"

"Erm that her lungs were damaged because of the smoke inhalation and excessive strain on her body or exposure to poor air quality for a while would be dangerous…" Ziggy replied. "Why? What are you thinking?"

"I'm not sure just yet."

"Kate said something about going to visit Scott." Ryan started before explaining about what Kate had asked of him to do.

"Why would she want you to do that?" Natalie questioned, confused.

"How the hell should I know?" Ryan snapped before stopping and running his hand over her face. "I don't know, I really don't. I feel as though I don't even know Kate anymore…"

"Maybe you don't."

Everyone turned to look at Jake who was stood by the door leaning against the frame as though without it he wouldn't be able to stand.

"What?" Ryan looked at him.

"You've not spoken to her for three years, in that time she's done so much. Maybe she's a totally different person to what she was when she was around you."

"What do you know?"

"I know that she is the only person I have ever been completely in love with and after seeing her every day for the past three years I know her. I know the way she thinks and the she's trying to get you to go to the hospital and look out of the window because she knows it will help you figure out where she is. The sooner we find her the better because right now she's god knows where and he could kill her any moment and there's nothing I can do to stop him."

Nobody knew what to say to him.

"She is all I have, and she thinks she's not important, she would rather give her life than have people she helped out behind bars let back onto the streets and that right there is Kate. She would rather suffer herself than see other people going through pain, because that's the kind of place she grew up in. You think you know her but you obviously don't know her very well. I don't care about Amethyst, I don't care she never told me about any of this. All I care about is having her back."

He then turned and stormed out of the office slamming the door behind him and the sounded shook throughout the room.

Ryan looked at the others, any words he thought of died on his tongue immediately. Finally he made contact with Lorna who looked somewhere between ready to start crying and exploding.

"You know what sir?" She started bitterly, not calling Ryan by his first name for the first time. "Applebee is playing with us, he took Kate because he knew we'd all come running. Why? Because we love her and that's that. He made you go and meet him so the guilt of letting her down before would weigh on you so much that you did what he wanted and you know something, he's right I am sick of defending you, telling you it wasn't your fault. The truth is if you had checked that building was safe before you sent Scott and Kate in, Scott wouldn't be as good as dead and Kate wouldn't be in the situation she's in. Kate might not blame you…but I do…"

She then too left, to go and find Jake.

Ryan took a deep breath as the door slammed for a second time.

"They're both just angry, mate." Ziggy said breaking an awkward silence. "Kate was like family to Lorna and well she is Jake's girlfriend. The stress is getting to us all."

"They're right. I'd not seen half-bite in so long, of cause he was going to know more…and Lorna…I know she blames me, I blame myself. I regret it every day."

"They'll calm down." Joe added. "Jake is a good bloke you know."

"I can see that. I can see that Kate is happier here."

"Look." Natalie sighed. "You're not a bad person, you've made some bad choices, some people have been hurt, but you can't change the past. You need to move on. You're a decent enough person. We need to focus on finding Kate. Okay? Now, Ron, you Ryan and Jake should got to Scott's hospital room and try and work out what the heck Kate is on with. Ziggy, you go and find Lorna, and Joe, you go and speak to Henry, he's going spare and needs to be informed on what's going on."

Ron smiled; typical Natalie, dealing with everyone's issues and calming everyone down.

XxX

"You okay?" Lorna asked finding Jake in the stairwell.

"Not really no."

"Yeah…I got a bit angry too. It's hard to remain calm when someone you love is in danger."

He looked up at her. "How long you known Kate?"

"Twelve years or so, same as everyone else. It was always just the five of us. I remember when I first met Kate. She was 16 years old and I remember thinking that if she wants to do something like what we would be doing that young she must have a pretty rough life already." Lorna bit her lip thinking of the 16 year old blonde who she had met all those years ago. "And she is the funniest person I have ever met. Hates it being quiet so always has to say something."

"She's not changed that much in three years then, she still does that now, our first few weeks working together was mainly her coming out with some random comment."

Lorna laughed slightly before seeing the door open and Ron and Ryan stood there.

"You coming mate?" Ron asked Jake and he nodded.

XxX

It was strange for Ron and Jake walking into Scott Monroe's hospital room when they had never met the man in his life. The room was quite big, with windows covering one wall top to bottom. Obviously Scott's care was being privately paid for. On Scott's bedside table there was a photograph, it was of him, Kate, Lorna, Ziggy and Ryan. They looked like a normal happy little family.

"You alright mate." Ryan said walking to Scott's bedside nodding. "Need you back, you and Kate's telepathic connection would come in useful right now…"

He and the other two walked over to the windows and looked out at the city. What was Kate trying to tell them?

"Look out the window and tell him about the city beneath him…"Ron muttered under his breath.

Ryan scanned around looking for something, was it something connected to the hospital? This hospital was a point they'd narrowed the base for the O'Riley gang from. What was the other place called? That's when he saw it, the tall building, and the company name written down the side. It wasn't used that much anymore but there it was. _ClearWater_ Accounting Company.

"ClearWater." He said out loud. "Applebee is keeping Kate ate their old base."

"But you don't know where that is." Jake looked at the older man confused.

"Look out the window, tell him about the city beneath him. There is nothing unless…" And suddenly like pieces of a puzzle everything slotted into place for Ryan. He took out his phone and found Lorna's number and out her on speaker phone.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Lorna, I need you to look at the plans for the ClearWater building? Is there anything underneath it?"

"Hold on…" They heard Lorna typing on a keyboard. "Right, I've got the plans. According to this there are a series of tunnels underneath the building going to different places across the city. Most of them are disused."

"Why?"

"According to this, safety reasons, something about the walls rotting, possibility of collapsing in on itself, also traces of asbestos were found when a work force were down there a while ago." Lorna read out. "You think that's where Kate is? And all the damp and stuff is what's making her ill. You now Kate, she has like no immune system."

"We've found her…"


	11. Chapter 11

AN: Thanks for reading as always, not sure how much more of this is left could be a little could be a lot, please review ily xx

XxX

"Joe, I want an armed response team to meet us, we're going to enter the tunnels from a different entrance, but not to move in until we say so, we don't know what Applebee would do, or how he will react." Natalie said as she, Joe, Lorna and Ziggy all got into a car and put on stab proof vests.

"On it." Joe said typing numbers into his phone.

"Let's just hope we're not too late…"

"We can't just go crashing in there, he's got a gun…" Lorna said nervously, praying that this was going to end well. She'd felt with many hostage situations in the past with working for the government and all but this was the first time the person that had to save was her friend. This was the first time she would feel like the hostages family did in those situations. The not knowing, only Kate's life was in their hands, they messed this up and she was dead…and it would be their fault.

XxX

"Can I ask something?" Kate asked Brandon, she was once again sat on the old sofa in the corner of her 'prison'. She felt dreadful but wouldn't show weakness in front of him, she'd grown up being able to hide her feelings, this was the time to use what she'd learnt. She hoped to God that Ryan, Ron and Jake had worked out what she had meant about visiting Scott. She'd seen the hospital when they'd first arrived and remembered how close they had been to finding the O'Riley gang's base three years ago.

"What?" Brandon asked from his position sat on the chair.

"Why did you come looking for me; you weren't arrested, you could've just disappeared, had a new life and started again. Why did you stay behind and try and get your gang out of prison?"

"Where would I have gone?"

Kate shrugged. "Anywhere…"

"I had to stay, Miss Katherine, I have a family. I have a wife and two small children…"

"I know, Ryan interviewed your wife…"

"And David, Seamus and Paul all have families too. Do you think they would've coped if I had disappeared? They wouldn't be safe."

"Did you do all of this for their families? After everything you have done did you expect the world to just do what you wanted because you had me? That's not how it works Brandon…You are all killers and there's nothing you can do to change that." She had to stop to catch her breath. "I get that you didn't want to leave your family, I get that David and the others are your friends but that's no excuse…a lot of innocent people are no longer at home with families of their own because of what you did…"

"I just did what I was told, what I thought was right…"

"You weren't the brains of the outfit were you?"

"I can't change anything. Why don't your friends just give in already? I need to protect my family,just wish this was over…"

Kate breathed in, coughing on air again. "Be careful what you wish for…"

He didn't answer her, he got up and left the room.

"Typical…" Kate said to herself, coughing slightly. "Running away when it gets too much…"

XxX

Led by two armed officers the team entered the tunnels, no idea what they would find. Ziggy had the map on his phone so they knew when they were close to where they believed Kate was.

"Look at us three…" Lorna chuckled under her breath. "Nearly got the old team back together…"

Ron and Natalie looked at her confused.

"Well me and Zig haven't been working for Amethyst the same either, it's strange us being back together on a case."

"We can celebrate later." Ryan told her. "For now…we find Kate…"

"The right tunnel is coming up ahead." Lorna told them.

Jake looked around him, he could see instantly why the tunnels were no longer used. There was asbestos in some of the walls, it could be seen due to half of them being broken. Spend too long down there and the place would rip your lungs to shreds.

XxX

Brandon couldn't stop thinking about what Kate had said, if he was being honest he didn't have a plan. He didn't want to kill her, he had killed before but for some reason he couldn't kill her Maybe she was too innocent, maybe she had too many people depending on her. He clutched his gun in his hand harder, what was he going to?

Suddenly he heard footsteps.

Footsteps in the tunnels? But no one knew about the tunnels and those that did knew they were shut down. No one ever came down. Who was it?

He lifted his gun and held it out. He had no plan, he had a young woman hostage, he was playing the police and now someone was close to finding them.

He took a deep breath as he caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure, he knew, it was an armed officer.

What had Kate said, ' _why didn't you ever just leave_?' Maybe that was what he should do. He knew they were getting closer.

"There he is." Someone shouted, Brandon didn't have time to run away or go back to Kate and all hell broke loose.

XxX

Kate didn't know what was going on, all she could hear was shouting, gun shots and footsteps. She didn't have the strength in her to get up, she was hardly eve keeping her eyes open, _trust her to get ill_ she thought. Was it Ryan and the others? Had they found her? Where was Brandon? Had someone been shot? The confusion was making her feel worse.

"Where's Kate!" She heard someone shout aggressively, a man's voice, a man with a thick Irish accent, of cause it was Ryan, no one else could ever sound that angry. "Tell me!"

She didn't hear Brandon reply to him but suddenly the door to the room she was in was kicked in and she saw two people crossing the room to her in the darkness.

"Kate…" The familiar voice made her open her eyes for the briefest second. It was Jake. "She's going to need to go to hospital."

She was lifted from the sofa and carried out of the room. She couldn't open her eyes, she just heard people's voices every now and then asking how she was, till she slipped into unconsciousness.


	12. Chapter 12

An: **sorry this has taken so long to update but I have been ill, then I was in hospital for the day but I'm fine now so yeah. Thanks for reading as always, please review, it means the world xx**

XXX

They called the hospital to let them know they were on their way and Ryan drove them; it would be quicker than calling an ambulance. Jake sat in the back with Kate. She wouldn't wake up, her breathing was shallow.

As they burst through the doors of the emergency room doctors began surrounding them bringing a trolley ready for Kate.

"Who is she?" A doctor asked.

Ronnie began filling them. "The missing woman. Kate Barker, 28. She's been kept in underground tunnels for nearly 48, she's dehydrated, been starved for that time. She has a history of lung damage too. We think it's some kind of infection from all the damp."

"She needs to go for a scan." A doctor said as Jake put Kate down. "You guys need to stay here we'll update you as soon as we know more."

They then wheeled Kate off and the others were left to wonder her fate.

XxX

Jake didn't know how long he'd been sat in the hospital. Time seemed to be going past him in a strange blue. He wasn't really taking in what was happening around him.

Ronnie was talking about Applebee. Brandon had been shot but only in the arm, he was being treated then would go straight to trial. Lorna, Joe and Ziggy were keeping an eye on him. Natalie was informing the press, and Henry, about Kate being found alive, her condition however wasn't known yet.

Ryan was making call after call, probably to government officials, people who worked with Amethyst. He was probably trying to find another prison to send Applebee to as the other three gang members were already in separate ones.

All Jake could think about was Kate. He didn't want to be distracted from that. He couldn't be distracted from that. Kate was his girlfriend and he loved her more than anything. Nothing was more important than her, not to him.

XxX

"Kate..." Kate opened her eyes slightly, using all her energy to do so. She saw a woman wearing scrubs stood beside her. "I am Dr Liversy, I'm your doctor. Can you hear me."

Kate gave a small nod of her head, she was exhausted.

"You've got an infection in your lungs caused by damp. You'll be fine, we've administered antibiotics and you'll need to stay here a little while till you get stronger." She explained slowly. "Just a precaution as your medical records show previous lung damage due to smoke inhalation and also you have a weak immune system. We wouldn't want you to go home and get worse now would we."

Kate blinked; her breathing was heavy.

"How are you feeling?" Dr Liversy checked the cannula in Kate's arm, checking her antibiotics were getting into her system.

"Like death..."

"That's expected." She smiled slightly. "You have some friends waiting for you outside. They are all pretty frantic, one I have to say more than the others, shall I send them in?"

"Please..." Kate replied before coughing.

Dr Liversy put her hand in Kate's shoulder. "Take it easy, luv'. I'll go and get your friends."

XxX

"Friends of Kate Barker?" Doctor Liversy said walking into waiting area.

Jake, Ron and Ryan looked up.

"How is she?" Jake asked nervously.

"She is stable, she's awake and talking but she is tired. The damp where she was kept and her weak immune system caused a bacterial infection in the lungs. We're giving her antibiotics. She'll need to stay here for a few days so we can keep an eye on her." She told them all. "She will then need to continue taking antibiotics at home, and will also need a steady going life style. At least until she's fully recovered."

"You realise Katherine Barker is the most stubborn person you will ever come across." Ryan said. "She's not going to want to just sit around all day. It's not her style."

"Well someone needs to make sure she doesn't over do it. Any trouble with breathing she is to come back to hospital. If not then she will make a full recovery." She gave them all a reassuring smile. "Make sure she sleeps and eats right though. She contracted the infection pretty quickly so I assume she'll need to build her strength back up. Less stress more sleep."

"Can we see her?" Jake asked.

"You her boyfriend? Guessed as much. Yes you can see her. One at a time though."

XxX

Jake entered the room Kate was in. Her eyes were open, she looked pale still but at least he could tell he was breathing.

"Hey..." She said quietly and he crossed the room to her bedside.

"Hey...How are you feeling?"

She chuckled slightly. "Oh just marvellous."

"The Doctor says you're going to be fine."

"Yeah..." Her words were slow. "I've had worse."

"So I've heard..."

"Ryan fill you in did he?"

"Yeah. Him and Lorna..."

"Jake..." She took a deep breath. "I would understand...if you didn't feel like you could trust me anymore...I mean...I've kept all this for you..."

"That better be the antibiotics talking Katherine Barker because if you think for one second I'm going give up on us you didn't tell me about Amethyst you have another thing coming..."

"But I lied..."

"To keep yourself and others safe. That's not lying that's just you being Kate." He took her hand. "Kate, I love you more than anything. When you were missing I didn't care about Amethyst all I cared about was having you back..."

He lent forward and kissed her forehead.

"Jake..."

"Yeah?" He met her gaze.

"I love you too."

He smiled sitting back down when a thought crossed his mind. "Kate...when we came to meet you with Applebee...you said that your life wasn't important..."

"I'm replaceable Jake, compared to the amount of people who would've been killed if the O'Riley gang were let out on the streets."

"You are not replaceable Kate."

She squeezed his hand. "Thanks. And anyway, it's all okay now, Applebee was arrested right? I'm safe now...and I'm gonna get better." He could see in her eyes that she was still scared, she had been through hell the past few days.

"I know..." He smiled slightly. "You're going to be fine."


	13. Chapter 13

An: I'm sorry I haven't posted in like a week but I am on work experience at the moment so I've been busy and any free time I've had I've felt dreadful but I feel better now :). So I think there will maybe one or two chapters left of this, what would you like to see happen? Also I have ideas for the next stories. I am thinking of doing a sequel to this story and also I am thinking of doing a song fic to Beautiful To Me - Olly Murs because it was requested for me on tumblr (don't know how many of you follow me on tumblr) so yeah. Thanks for reading as always, please review. Xxx

XXX

Kate winced as the nurse, who Kate knew to be called Holly, pulled the cannula out of her arm. She was being discharged and was looking forward to going home. Jake came to see her every day that she had been in the hospital keeping her informed as to what was happening with the Applebee case. It had taken a lot for her to get Jake to actually leave and go home himself. She could understand though that he wanted to be with her, she had been missing for best part of two days with God knows what was happening to her. He was still worried about her. He just wanted to make sure that he was okay, he didn't want anything else to happen to her.

Applebee's trial was in two weeks, it was the quickest date that could be secured. Ryan had taken a statement from her and said she didn't have to speak in court but Kate had spent three years as a lawyer, in a courtroom she felt safe. She knew how things worked, she knew what to do and what to say to get a conviction. She knew didn't know who would be defending him, she wasn't risking him walking away, not after everything.

"You are going to rest now aren't you, Kate?" Holly asked with a kind smile. Kate had actually had to stay in hospital for over a week meaning Holly had come to realise she wasn't the sitting down type.

"I'll do my best." Kate replied tiredly and the nurse chuckled.

"No more getting kidnapped if you can help it. Just...don't over do it. Let that boyfriend of yours take care of you for a while and you'll be as good as new."

Kate smiled. "If he doesn't look after me he's got like 8 people to answer to...three of which could actually kill him..."

"Is he coming to pick you up?"

Kate nodded. "Then it's home for me."

"We're gonna miss you round here luv'."

"I'm sure you'll get over it. Besides I'm being forced to come every week for next like two months to make sure I'm recovering."

"You're an interesting lass, Kate." Holly chuckled slightly to herself. "Some of the things you come out with."

"Are usually mental." A voice said in the door way. The two looked around to see Jake stood there. "You've only had a her a week, I have listened to her craziness everyday for best part of 3 years."

"Hello Jacob." Kate said in a fake annoyed voice.

"Katherine." He kissed her forehead before seeing Holly put a bandage over Kate's arm. "how's the arm."

"It's gonna kill. But I'm fine. How's everyone else?"

"Well Ryan, Lorna and Ziggy took all the paperwork from Ron, Joe and Natalie. All they need to do now is turn up at court for the trial. Henry is moaning, don't know what about i stopped listening after about two minutes."

Kate smiled before liking at Holly. "Can I go now nurse?" She asked and Holly laughed.

"Sign the paperwork and then you can."

XxX

Jake pulled into Kate's driveway. He looked over and saw she hadn't even acknowledged they'd arrived.

"Kate." He said softly putting his hand on her arm and she turned to look at him realising where they were.

She muttered something before getting out.

He put her bag down in the hall noticing how she locked the door behind them. Her hand lingered on the door handle and Jake watched her closely. He knew what she was doing. She was pretending she was fine, in reality she was scared though. There was something at the back of her mind that kept making her think about when she was in those tunnels, that room she'd been kept in. The darkness. Shortness of breath. The choice her friends would have to make. Her or innocent people. Jake watched her carefully. He could almost read her mind.

He walked over to her and took her hand. "You okay darling?" His voice was quiet.

She bit her lip and didn't reply. It was like when he saw again after she woke up at the hospital. She was quiet and slow. She looked exhausted, she needed looking after. He knew Kate and knew she wouldn't look after herself properly. She would just want to distract herself from everything that was going through her mind.

"Maybe you should get some sleep?" He suggested and she nodded, grateful he hadn't pushed any further.

XxX

Kate had gone to bed alone, feeling slightly on edge because not that she had told anyone but she was scared still. Applebee was an unpredictable psychopath and she hadn't one on whether she was going to live or die. You don't forget all of that because you spend a week in hospital. She felt safer knowing Jake was in the house so she went to sleep.

She slept so long she hadn't noticed Jake come to bed as when she awoke at 2 am he was laid next her to her, one arm snaked around her stomach holding her close.

She closed her eyes again hoping to fall back into a peaceful sleep. When she was in hospital she always felt paranoid it was because she spent all her time alone. Now she had Jake with her she felt safer. She didn't know why she couldn't shake the horrible feeling off, the feeling as though it wasn't over yet. That somehow everything was going to come back at haunt. She knew she was being ridiculous but she couldn't help it.

She put her hand on top of Jake's before falling into a far from peaceful sleep state.


	14. Chapter 14

A sense of nausea brought on by nerves made Kate swallow as she gently knocked on the office door.

"Hey half-bite." Ryan smiled as Kate entered his office. It had been a long time since she'd stepped foot into the building that Amethyst worked from.

Kate smiled back slightly.

"Sit down." He said and she shook her head.

"I'm not stopping." She told him before taking an envelope from her bag. "Here."

"What is this?"

"My resignation." She sighed. "Before I was just hiding, but now, I know I can never return to do what I was doing before." She couldn't look Ryan in the eye as she went on. "I'm not the same person I was before. I'm not part of this anymore, Ryan, I'm a lawyer. I don't think I'm brave enough to be here anymore..."

"I think the opposite. I think you're braver. Because the you three years ago would never have told me that. You would've suffered in silence no matter how much it hurt you." He paused. "I do understand why you're doing this half-bite..."

"I found a family." She blinked hard for a second. "You guys made me into who I am but I've found people who love and care about me not just for the fact that I'm clever...I'm one of them now..."

"I understand."

"I'm er...I'm gonna go now..." She moved slowly to the door. "But do you ever need my help you know where I am, and you stay in touch right? and I don't just mean till Applebee is convicted."

"Of cause." He nodded. "And Katherine. I didn't chose you just because you were clever, I saw a more qualities in you than that."

Kate nodded slightly before opening the door and leaving.

XxX

Kate walked into her's and Jake's office for the first time in what felt like a million years. She entered silently though not to bring attention to her presence. Jake was stood with Henry and Ron beside his desk looking at his computer screen. They were watching a news clip, she stood in the door way and listened.

"Missing lawyer, Katherine Barker, 28, was found alive and well last week by detectives in charge of her case. Her kidnapper has been identified as Brandon Applebee, a member of notorious criminal gang. He has been arrested and awaits trial."

"How did they find out about Applebee?" Henry asked Ron. "Doyle said no information of Kate's kidnapper was going to be released."

"There's always someone who lets something slip, Henry." Ron sighed. "But that doesn't matter now. Kate's safe. I'm sure Ryan will make sure of that somehow. Brandon Applebee is guarded 24/7 and will soon be permanently behind bars."

"Not soon enough." Jake muttered under his breath before Kate moved into view.

"Kate..." Henry said, he'd not seen her since she was in hospital.

"Hey..." She replied, her hands shaking slightly.

Jake crossed the room to het sensing she was nervous about something. "Are you alright."

She nodded. "I've erm. I've officially resigned from Amethyst. I'm one of the team properly now."

Jake wrapped his arms around her. "You always were." He kissed the top of her head and smiled. She'd found where she belonged. She loved Ryan, Lorna and Ziggy but she had moved on from that, she wasn't part of Amethyst anymore.

She missed Scott, he was the only one she could've counted as real family, she doubted he would ever wake up but the hope was still there.

She looked over at Ron and Henry. They both treated her in a very daughter like way which she was appreciative of. She'd not seen her own father in such a long time.

"The trial starts next week." Henry said breaking the comfortable silence. "Are you going to be ready?"

"Of cause." Kate nodded. "Who will be taking the trial?" She knew with her being part of the CPS it would be difficult to find anyone who didn't know her to a point where they couldn't do the trial.

"Someone Doyle knows. Not your everyday barrister of cause. We all need to give evidence." He replied and she nodded.

Henry then went back into his office saying the two of them could go home and Ron left wanting to get back to the station before Joe destroyed everything.

"You okay?" Jake asked her when they were alone.

She nodded, not sure if she was telling the truth or not. "I am now."

"Why did you resign?"

"Because I know where I belong Jake. And I belong here, with you annoying me, Henry tearing his hair out and Joe and Ron arguing over the pronunciation of the word scone."

"The other two I agree on but when have I ever been annoying?"

She laughed playfully punching his arm. "Do you really want me to answer that question."

He chuckled. "Probably not...are you ready for court?"

"Yes. I know Applebee is still aloud a fair trial with a Jury but no one would find him innocent."

"That's not what I meant. I meant are you going to be okay..."

She bit her lip. "Jake...even if I thought I would brake down in front of everybody I wouldn't back out."

He nodded. "I understand."

"Okay." She took his hand "home?"

"Home."

XxX

An: so that's the final chapter. I hoped you enjoyed reading; I'm planning a sequel to this story and like I said I have a song fic on the horizon. Please review x


End file.
